


Try, Fail, and Ultimately Succeed

by Morbid_Hatter



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Kisses from Cupid, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbid_Hatter/pseuds/Morbid_Hatter
Summary: For the 2017 Winterhawk Kisses From Cupid weekDay 1/Propt B: Cooking a meal togetherBucky tries. He really does. Luckily Clint is wooed anyway.





	

Clint never really got the whole Valentine’s Day thing. There were several reasons for this lack of understanding but they all stemmed from the inability to keep a significant other long enough to have the need to do anything romantic for Valentine’s. He had a general idea, yes. He wasn’t dumb, but he was more under the impression that love and appreciation should be shown to your partner every day.

Regardless, he knew when people were trying. And Bucky? Buck was definitely trying.

Clint thought it was cute - not that he’d ever admit it. They had been together for only a few months after meeting at a Halloween party thrown by Tony. It had been fun. Bucky had been fun. They had a few drinks together and then Clint found himself peeling off the multiple layers of Bucky’s Mad Hatter costume in one of the many guest rooms of Tony’s mansion.

He thought their relationship was a little backwards and weird, but it totally worked for them. They were both weirdly dependant on each other, had best friends that were closer than siblings, and were generally badasses. Generally, being the case for Clint. Bucky was always badass.

Except for now.

Clint had been knocking at the offensively green door of Bucky and Steve’s apartment for the last few minutes with no response from the other side. Bucky had told him to be at his place by 8 for a surprise and it was already ten after. Bucky was ex-military, he was always on time.

_R u home?_ He cringed at himself as soon as he hit the ‘send’ button. Clint’s philosophy on texting was that if you couldn’t spell out the whole word, you had no business using it. But breaking his own rule was necessary when he was starting to panic.

When his call went to voicemail after ringing through, he knew something was wrong. He hadn’t been sent straight to voicemail so he wasn’t being outright ignored (which was a huge improvement over his previous relationships) but he still figured he had done something wrong to make Bucky cancel their plans without telling him.

_What did I do?_

He was starting to feel that creeping sense of worthlessness crawl up his spine and settle across his chest. He sat himself down on the floor next to the door and hoped and hoped that Bucky was just running late.

Clint counted out the next five minutes in his head before he reached over and knocked his fist against the door without looking at it. It wasn’t an avoidance tactic, it wasn’t.

Finally. _Finally_. The door opened and a harassed-looking Bucky stuck his head out. His eyes had a manic, almost wild look to them and it took Clint by surprise. The look in his eye was reminiscent of the haunted, post-nightmare face that would sometimes rear up on Bucky when least expected. “Clint?! What are you doing on the floor?”

Clint stood up and rocked awkwardly from his heels to his toes. “I’ve been out here since a few minutes after 8. You said be here. So I was. Here, that is. Please stop me from rambling before I really get going or it’ll be-”

Bucky cut him off with a short but thorough kiss before he lead the dumbstruck blond into the apartment. “So, I was trying to be romantic and sweet because you said no one had ever done anything nice like that for you.” Bucky stopped just inside the door and ran his hand through his hair while staring fixedly at his feet. “I wanted to cook you this super romantic dinner so we could have the night to ourselves. I even bribed Stevie to stay over at Sam’s so we could just have some time alone. But I, uh,” he stopped at gestured towards the dining corner of the kitchen where their small table had been covered with a nice table cloth, a tall candle flickering merrily in the center of the table and even a rosebud resting across one of the plates (and they were real plates, not the paper plates they usually ate off of). It was all very picturesque and sweet. In fact, Clint couldn’t see what the problem was or the cause for the crazy eyes.

“Wow,” Clint said, in awe with the effort Bucky had made. He had never dated anyone else who had cared enough to make the overly commercialized holiday anything more than an excuse to break the nearest flat surface with marathon sex. “This is awesome. What’s with the whole face thing?”

Bucky sighed heavily and dropped his shoulders in defeat. “I kinda killed dinner.”

Clint hummed in disbelief and proceeded to go around Bucky and check out the damage. And it was damaged. “Oh, Buck. How did you manage to get the poor chicken that black on the outside but still pink inside? Is that even possible?” He wasn’t going to laugh at his poor boyfriend, but he also wasn’t going to let it go without a little bit of teasing.

Bucky blushed and crossed his arms defensively across his broad chest. “I was trying to multitask. The Food Network doesn’t make any of this look that hard.”

Clint nodded in understanding before he went to survey what was left of Bucky’s supplies. There was a box of noodles, some butter, a few different seasonings, a jar of cheap Alfredo sauce and a few pieces of chicken that had escaped the massacre. He could work with this. “Can I trust you to cook pasta?”

Bucky bit his lip and shrugged. “Boil water. Put in pasta. Let it heat up.”

“Mostly,” Clint said with a laugh.

They ended up cooking together. Clint walked Bucky through doctoring the sauce up with the Italian seasoning he had found and some minced garlic in a jar (why they had this Clint will never know). He refused to let Bucky anywhere near the chicken to protect it from his well-meaning but culinary-challenged boyfriend.

It wasn’t a five star meal but it was edible and actually tasted pretty nice - even reheated as they had gotten distracted before they actually got around to eating the food. Clint felt a little ridiculous sitting at a nicely set table in just his underwear ( _Oops, these are actually Bucky’s_ ) eating off the nice plates. “I feel bad - Alfredo sauce doesn’t reheat well so you’re not getting the full Barton Cooking Experience.”

Bucky frowned down at his plate. “I was trying to be sweet and romantic. I don’t screw this stuff up. I’m suave as hell! I failed, babe. I’m sorry.”

Clint shook his head at his ridiculous boyfriend who still hadn’t looked up from his plate. “Buck,” he said with no answer from the brunette. “James!” Bucky looked up and followed Clint’s progress as he moved from the opposite side of the table to almost in Bucky’s lap he was so close to him. “This was awesome. Yeah, I thought I did something wrong when you didn’t answer the door and didn’t answer my call or my texts, but you tried so hard to make this special.” He sat down on Bucky’s lap and curled around him so that he could rest his head on Bucky’s shoulder. “That means a lot to me.”

Be finally felt Bucky relax and smile. “You’re totally worth all of it. And hey, with your help we managed not to starve or rely on takeout tonight.”

Bucky wrapped his arm around Clint’s back and started to trace lines and patterns on Clint’s arm. The pattern started to repeat itself over and over so that it was starting to tickle. Clint wanted to focus on it but Bucky seemed to have noticed his sudden attention to his tracing and switched to a light and random tapping.

It wasn’t random. Clint laughed quietly before he turned slightly to be able to see Bucky’s eyes. “Morse Code? Really?”

Bucky shrugged guiltily with a blush staining his cheeks and ears. “Yeah, well. I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t catch that. I didn’t want to mention anything. I mean, it’s way too soon and-”

Clint shut him up placing a finger against Bucky’s lips and signing _I love you_ to him.

Yeah, neither of them could say it out loud, but they knew.


End file.
